Pesticide exposure resulting from treatment of lice infestation in school-aged children in Georgia.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to assess pesticide exposures in children being treated for head lice with either lindane or permethrin (exposed group) and children who did not have a lice infestation and thus were not being treated with chemicals for head lice or scabies (unexposed group).


METHODS
In 2001, we enrolled 78 children aged 6-10 years old and collected baseline urine samples and demographic information from all the children. We subsequently collected post-exposure urine samples and questionnaire information about lice treatment from the 29 (37%) children (exposed children) who had been diagnosed and were being treated for head lice. Metabolites of the pesticides lindane and permethrin were measured in the samples.


RESULTS
The mean age of exposed and unexposed children in the study population was 9.3 years and 8.5 years, respectively. Fourteen of the 29 exposed children used prescription lice treatments (i.e., lindane or malathion); 25 of the 29 exposed children used at least one over-the-counter permethrin treatment, either alone or in addition to prescription treatments. Exposed children in both counties had higher urinary pyrethroid metabolite levels in their post-exposure samples compared with their baseline samples. However this difference was only significant in Forsyth County children.


CONCLUSIONS
The significantly increased post-exposure pyrethroid metabolite levels in the urine of Forsyth County children suggest that the children are exposed to pyrethroid insecticides through the use of lice shampoos.
Naeher
Luke P
LP
Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Environmental Health, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Barr
Dana B
DB
Rithmire
Nancy
N
Edwards
Jeannie
J
Holmes
Adrianne K
AK
Needham
Larry L
LL
Rubin
Carol S
CS
D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D010374:Pediculus / Q000187:drug effects*; D026023:Permethrin / Q000652:urine; D010575:Pesticides / Q000652:urine*; D012532:Scabies / Q000188:drug therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014556:Urine / Q000737:chemistry
D010575:Pesticides; D026023:Permethrin; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane